GLOSSARY
Like much of the
Nightkeepers’ culture, their language comes from the people they
have lived with throughout their history. Or if we want to
chicken-and-egg things, it’s more likely that the other cultures
took the words from the Nightkeepers and incorporated them into
their developing languages just as they did their science and
religions. The following is a brief glossary of some of the most
common (or uncommon) terms and their meanings. Pronunciation-wise,
most of these words sound the way they’re spelled, with two tricks:
First, the letter “x” takes the “sh” sound. Second, the letter “i”
should be read as the “ee” sound. Thus, for example, Xibalba
becomes “Shee-bal-buh.”
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Entities
Akhenaton—More than three thousand years ago, this
pharaoh forcibly converted the Egyptian empire to monotheistic
worship of the sun god, Aten, and proclaimed himself a god-king. As
part of converting his subjects to the new god, he had all priests
of the old religion slaughtered . . . including the Nightkeepers
who had guided ancient Egypt up to that point.
Banol Kax—The lords of
the underworld, Xibalba. Driven from the earth by the many-
times-great-ancestors of the modern Nightkeepers, the Banol Kax seek to return and subjugate mankind on
the foretold day: December 21, 2012.
Godkeeper—A female Nightkeeper who has bonded with
one of the sky gods. The Godkeepers are prophesied to form the core
of the Nightkeepers’ fighting force in the years leading up to the
2012 doomsday.
itza’at—A female
Nightkeeper with visionary powers; a seer. The itza’at talent is often associated with depression,
mental instability, and suicide, because the seer can envision the
future but not change it.
Kinich Ahau—The sun god of the ancient Maya. Each
night at sunset, Kinich Ahau enters Xibalba. With the aid of two
huge black dogs called companions, the god must fight through the
underworld to reach the dawn horizon each morning, beginning a new
day.
makol (ajaw-makol)—These
demon souls are capable of reaching through the barrier to possess
evil- natured human hosts. Recognized by his luminous green eyes, a
makol-bound human retains his own
thoughts and actions in direct proportion to the amount of evil in
his soul. An ajaw-makol, which is a
ruling makol created through direct
spell casting, can create lesser makol
through blood sacrifice.
nahwal—Humanoid spirit
entities that exist in the barrier and hold within them all of the
accumulated wisdom of each Nightkeeper bloodline. They can be asked
for information, but cannot be trusted.
Nightkeeper—A member of an ancient race sworn to
protect mankind from annihilation in the years leading up to
December 21, 2012, when the barrier separating the earth and the
underworld will fall and the Banol Kax
will seek to precipitate the apocalypse.
Order of Xibalba—Formed by renegade Nightkeepers, the
order was believed to have been destroyed in the 1520s. However,
the Order of Xibalba survives, and is now led by a powerful mage
named Iago, who seeks to bind his soul to that of the long- dead
Aztec god-king, Moctezuma.
Prophet—An oracle created when a magic user’s soul is
destroyed but the body is magically preserved, becoming an animate
shell that relays information from the barrier-bound library to the
Nightkeepers on earth.
scribe—A mage who holds a powerful but fickle talent
among the Nightkeepers: the ability to create spells.
winikin—Descended from
the conquered Sumerian warriors who served the Nightkeepers back in
ancient Egypt, the winikin are
blood-bound to act as the servants, protectors, and counselors of
the magi.
Places
hellmouth—Formerly found in the cloud forests of
Ecuador, this underworld access point, which opens only on the
cardinal solstices and equinoxes, has vanished from the face of the
earth.
Skywatch—The Nightkeepers’ training compound is
located in a box canyon in the Chaco Canyon region of New Mexico,
and is protected by magical wards.
Xibalba—The nine-layer underworld, home to the
Banol Kax and makol.
Things (spells, glyphs, prophecies, etc.)
archive—This three-room stronghold at Skywatch
contains the writings and artifacts collected by the Nightkeepers
since they escaped Spanish conquest in the fifteen hundreds and
migrated north to what became the United States. Although
impressive in its scope, the archive contains very few prophecies
focused on the 2012 doomsday and end-time war, as these were
addressed in far older texts.
barrier—A force field of psi energy that separates
the earth, sky, and underworld, and forms the energy source that
powers the Nightkeepers’ magic. The strength of the barrier
fluctuates with the positions of the stars and planets, and weakens
as the 12/21/2012 end date approaches.
jun tan—The “beloved”
glyph that signifies a Nightkeeper’s mated status.
library—Created by far-seeing Nightkeeper leaders,
this repository contains all the ancient artifacts and information
the magi need to arm themselves for the end-time war. Once housed
in a sacred cavern on earth, the library is now hidden deep within
the barrier, and may be accessed only by the Prophet.
Solstice Massacre—Following a series of prophetic
dreams, the Nightkeepers’ king led them to battle against the
Banol Kax in the mid-eighties. The magi
were slaughtered; only a scant dozen children survived to be raised
in hiding by their winikin. These are
the Nightkeepers of today.
skyroad—This celestial avenue connected the earth and
sky planes, allowing contact between the Nightkeepers and the gods.
Since Iago’s destruction of the skyroad, the gods have been unable
to influence events on earth, giving sway to the demons and tipping
humanity’s balance dangerously toward the underworld.
Triad—The last three years prior to December 21,
2012, are known as the triad years. During this time, the
Nightkeepers are prophesied to need the help of the Triad, a trio
of über-powerful magi created through a powerful spell . . . one
that the Nightkeepers cannot locate. Their only hope is that the
spell is contained within the library . . . and that their Prophet
can find it.
writs—Written by the First Father, these rules
delineate the duties and codes of the Nightkeepers. Not all of them
translate well into present day.
The Nightkeepers and their winikin
Coyote bloodline—The most mystical of the bloodlines.
Coyote-Seven, known as Sven, can move objects with his mind and
wears the warrior’s mark, but he is the least mature of the magi.
His winikin, the senior statesman,
Carlos, has been reassigned to Nate Blackhawk, whose winikin died when Nate was a baby. Carlos’s
daughter, Cara Liu, is supposed to be serving Sven. Instead, she
has returned to the human world.
Eagle bloodline—A bird bloodline, and therefore
connected with the air and flight. The current members of this
bloodline include Brandt, his wife, Patience (who has the talent of
invisibility), and their twin full-blood sons, Harry and Braden. On
the king’s order, Brandt and Patience’s winikin, Woody and Hannah, have taken the twins
into hiding for their own protection, dividing the family
unit.
Harvester bloodline—The harvesters most often worked
behind the scenes, and were the most passive magi. The bloodline’s
last remaining winikin, Shandi, has
raised its sole surviving member, Jade, to be the prototypical
harvester . . . but Jade chafes against the restrictions of her
heritage.
Hawk bloodline—Also connected with air and flight,
this bloodline can be aloof and unpredictable. Nate Blackhawk, the
surviving member of this bloodline, was orphaned young and trusts
few. He is a shape-shifter whose potentially destructive power is
kept in check by his love for his mate, Alexis, and the steady
guidance of his winikin,
Carlos.
Jaguar bloodline—The royal house of the Nightkeepers.
The members of this bloodline tend to be loyal and fair-minded, but
can be stubborn and often struggle between duty and their own
personal desires. The current members of the jaguar bloodline
include the Nightkeepers’ king, Strike, and his sisters, Anna and
Sasha. Strike is a teleporter, Anna a seer who denies her talents,
and Sasha a wielder of the lifegiving ch’ul magic. They are protected and guided by the
royal winikin, Jox. Strike’s mate and
queen, Leah Daniels, is full human, a former Miami- Dade detective
who now leads Strike’s royal council.
Peccary bloodline—The boar bloodline is old and
powerful; its members ruled the Nightkeepers before the jaguars
came to power. Red-Boar was the only adult mage to survive the
Solstice Massacre; he lost his wife and twin sons, and never
forgave himself for living. He was killed by a makol during the reunited Nightkeepers’ first
battle against the dark forces. Red-Boar’s teenage son, Rabbit,
lives with the stigma of being a half-blood, and commands wildly
powerful magic.
Serpent bloodline—The masters of trickery. Snake
Mendez is serving the tail end of a jail sentence and is apart from
the Nightkeepers, yet he already has some of his powers. His
winikin is locked up in a secure
psychiatric facility, driven there by despair at what his charge
has become.
Smoke bloodline—Often seers and prophets. However,
the surviving member of this bloodline, Alexis Gray, has shown
neither talent. Instead, she once wielded the power of the goddess
Ixchel, patron of weaving, fertility, and rainbows. With the
destruction of the skyroad, she has lost her Godkeeper connection
but remains a fierce warrior.
Stone bloodline—The keepers of secrets. The members
of this bloodline are known as great warriors, although the last
surviving bloodline member, Michael, is a master of the protective
shield spell as well as the killing silver magic called
muk. His winikin, Tomas, and his mate, Sasha, combine to
keep him balanced when the deadly magic threatens to tip him toward
darkness.
Earthly allies
Lucius Hunt—A longing for adventure and recognition
rendered Lucius vulnerable to seduction by one of the demon
makol. Under its influence, he found
and nearly betrayed the Nightkeepers, and then defected to the
Order of Xibalba. Newly returned to the Nightkeepers, with the
demon exorcised, he should wield the power of a Nightkeeper
Prophet.
Leah Ann Daniels—The former detective is now Strike’s
mate and the Nightkeepers’ queen.
Myrinne—Raised by a witch who told fortunes in the
French Quarter and was sacrificed by Iago at the hellmouth, this
young, ambitious beauty is Rabbit’s lover.
Earthly enemies
Iago—The leader of the Order of Xibalba, Iago is a
mage of extraordinary power, capable of “borrowing” the talents of
other magi. Iago hopes to gain additional power by allying himself
with the might of the bloodthirsty Aztec through the soul of their
god-king, Moctezuma.